Stephen, 19 years old, gay : ’I sat at T.G.I. Fridays with my dad in april of this year. I just said it, in the middle of dinner. I wasn’t going to say it, but then I did it anyways: ’Dad, there’s something, I need to tell you: ’I’m gay.’ ’He just sat there, and put his hands on his head, then he walked out. Didn’t talk to me. He emailed me later, and told me that he wasn’t paying for college anymore. You’re not allowed to come home,’ he said. ’I expected it to be different. I’m glad I got homeless in a way, because I feel it humbles me. One of my friends call it ’civilian bootcamp’, because the days before you find a shelter, you don’t sleep. It took me 5 days. I was too afraid to sleep. I finally fell asleep on a bench at Christopher Street. That’s the only time I slept,’ Stephen says.

The good news is that these days many young gays and lesbians gather the courage to come out at an earlier age than they used to only a few years back; the bad news is that many parents still do not accept the idea of having a gay child, and take the very bad decision of kicking them out of their house.

This content is restricted to subscribers

Join FotoRoom

Amateur Only €10/year	Pro Only €20/year
FotoCal (+) Open Calls (+) No banners!	FotoCal (+) Open Calls (+) The Button (+) Search (+) No banners!
Select Plan	Select Plan

Amateur

Only €10/year

Pro

Only €20/year

Select Plan

Photo Kathryn Harrison

Keep looking...

Tomer Ifrah Visits Astana, Kazakhstan’s Planned Capital City

The Space Between Us — Evan Walsh’s Portraits Test the Expected Boundaries of Male Friendship

FotoFirst — Felipe Romero Tells the Macabre Story of the Bodies Emerging from the Magdalena River

This Is the (Photo) Story of the World’s Biggest Bonfire

Shane Rochelau’s Photobook Reflects on What It Means to Be a White American Man

FotoFirst — Discover Shahrzad Darafsheh’s Book of Photos She’s Been Taking While Fighting Cancer

Introducing Gnomic Book, the #FotoRoomOPEN Juror That Will Publish the Winner’s Work as a Photobook

FotoFirst — Dennese Victoria Creates a Fake Family Photo Album

More...